Task 6: Organics All You Can Shovel Results

Event Date: Saturday, August 15, 2015 Background: On Saturday, August 15, 2015, Waste Management hosted a one-day All You Can Shovel event at the Cedar Grove composting facility in Everett. On August 6, a special postcard was mailed to 37,622 Snohomish County WUTC Waste Management food and yard waste customers, inviting them to shovel a vehicle-load of free compost. This educational event helps customers see how the food scraps and food-soiled paper that they add into their curbside compost cart can be transformed into nutrient-rich compost for yards and gardens. Objectives:

Engage customers in the value of compost.

Help customers understand what can go into their curbside compost cart.

Share free compost with current Snohomish County WUTC customers to spur interest in buying compost for their gardens.

Overall Experience: The All You Can Shovel event had many return customers from previous years that expressed gratitude to Waste Management for giving them this opportunity. Attendees made special arrangements, recruiting neighbors and family members to help shovel, renting trucks and trailers or lining their cars with plastic and loading compost in. Customers were excited to shovel as much compost as they could fit into their vehicle.

Diverse and Engaged Audience – A large multicultural audience was in attendance. One customer remarked that the photos on the WM Composting Guidelines were very helpful because her English is limited.

Compost Education for Everyone – Event attendees received a collateral packet with Waste Management and Cedar Grove educational materials. Outreach staffers stationed by the compost pile helped answer questions using educational talking points and customers shared their personal composting experiences.

Happy Customers! – There were many special customer interactions throughout the day. o Many customers remarked that they’d been watching the mail, waiting for the postcard. o An outreach staffer assisted a customer that was not able to shovel, sending him home

with a trailer-load of compost. o A third-grader, sitting in the car while his dad shoveled, proudly told staffers about how

he filled out two Produce Sticker Cards during Compost Days, earning free compost for his school (Discovery Elementary).

o One customer said that he built a trailer especially for this event, finishing it the night before.

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o Many customers were excited by the quality of the compost. o As customers would depart, they would wave, give a thumbs up and thank Waste

Management. Educational Materials: All event attendees received the following educational materials:

WM Residential Food and Yard Waste Collection Guidelines

WM Keep Compost O’Natural Produce Sticker Trading Card

WM Compostable Bag Flyer

Cedar Grove Organics Planting Calendar

Cedar Grove Compost Coupon Results: 327 households attended the event, with several lining up before the 10 a.m. start time. A steady stream of shovelers continued until 4 p.m., lining up to fill their cars, trucks and containers with free compost. Cedar Grove provided 900 yards of compost for residents and at the end of the day, approximately 350 yards had been shoveled. The day had a festive feel with happy Waste Management customers driving home with a vehicle loaded with nutrient-rich compost for gardening. Though composting in the fall tends to have a lower participation rate, the larger mailing list resulted in 50 percent higher attendance over previous All You Can Shovel events in August. Attendees by City:

City Attendees

Arlington 5

Bothell 48

Brier 9

Edmonds 7

Everett 65

Lake Stevens 34

Lynnwood 66

Marysville 29

Mill Creek 2

Seattle 2

Snohomish 38

Stanwood 13

Tulalip 5

Woodinville 4

Total 327

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Photos:

© 2016 WM Intellectual Property Holdings, L.L.C.

Postcard:

© 2016 WM Intellectual Property Holdings, L.L.C.